Can't Break Her Fall
by AmyLeigh88
Summary: Rachel seeks out Jesse during her suspension. Set during episode 3x08, Hold on to Sixteen. Minor spoilers for Jesse's return.


**Disclaimer: **Sadly, I do not own Glee or any of its characters. If I did, we would have already had plenty of St. Berry this season. Fun.'s "We Are Young" isn't mine either.

**Author's Note: **This fic was completely inspired by something that Rachel said to Quinn outside of Figgin's office - "artistic rebellious expression". I like to think that Jesse was the reason for that change. I'd love to hear what you guys think so leave me a review. Enjoy!

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><p>Jesse pulled his phone out of his back pocket as it rang and looked down at the screen to see who was calling and saw a picture of an Evita Playbill. It was Rachel.<p>

He hadn't heard from her in months but this was the fourth time in two days that she had called him. He had ignored her first three calls and thankfully she hadn't left him any voicemails. Sighing, he slid his finger across the screen and answered the phone. "Hello?" he asked, his voice neutral.

"J-Jesse?" came Rachel's unsure voice. Obviously, she had expected him to continue to ignore her calls.

"Why are you calling me Rachel?" he queried, his voice devoid of any pretense.

"Can't a girl just want to talk to an old friend," she told him brightly. "It's been months and –"

Jesse's voice cut her off before she could continue. "So we're friends now?" Jesse amazed himself by the lack of bitterness in his voice as he spoke even though he could feel it coursing through his veins.

"Y-y-yes, of course," she stammered losing her confidence once again. "Look, I –"

He interrupted her again before she could start rambling. "Why are you calling me at ten o'clock in the morning? Shouldn't you be in school?" He'd been so taken aback by her phone call that he hadn't even really thought about the fact that it was late morning in the middle of the week and she should probably be in class right at that moment.

Rachel took a deep breath before answering his questions. "That's actually why I was calling." Knowing that he wouldn't agree to what she was about to ask without some sort of explanation she decided to let him in on why she was currently sitting at home instead of a classroom. "I was suspended last Friday for a week." She let that sit for a moment before continuing. "Would you like to meet me for lunch?"

Jesse was in still in shock over the fact that she had just told him that she was suspended that it took him a little bit to register her request to meet him. He sighed as he contemplated whether or not he should agree to have lunch with her. "Fine," he answered finally.

"Really?" Obviously, she hadn't been expecting him to say yes. She quickly recovered, however. "I mean, great. Okay, um, do you want to meet at the café at the Mansfield airport?" she asked.

Despite her obvious surprise that he had actually agreed, she had apparently been prepared just in case he said yes in typical Rachel fashion. "Sure, I'll see you there at 11:30," he replied.

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><p>Mansfield was a bit closer to Akron than Lima so Jesse ended up arriving at the restaurant a little early. To be honest, he wasn't quite sure why he had agreed to have lunch with her. It wasn't like they had left things on the best of terms after Nationals. He had thought that they were in a good place when she had left to go to Nationals in New York. Sure, she hadn't responded to his texts once she got there but he had just chalked it up to her wanting to remain focused on winning the competition.<p>

That had been why he had waited until the day of the competition to fly into the city and surprise her. He had been trying to respect her wishes and not give her any distractions. He had wanted her to win Nationals just as much as she had wanted to. When he had sat down next to Mr. Schue, the older man had surprised Jesse by seeing right through him. It certainly hadn't been the competition that Jesse couldn't stay away from, it had been Rachel. Pride had surged through him as he watched her up on that stage doing what she was born to do, perform.

Then the kiss had happened. The kiss that had made him want to punch Finn Hudson's smug face in as he had talked about capes and some other bullshit. But he had kept his jealousy and hurt in check. He had managed to give an objective opinion of New Directions performance and the ramifications of Finn and Rachel's actions. He had told Rachel that she looked beautiful, and she had. When they had all checked the list to see if New Directions had made the top ten, he had felt the pain of their loss as much as the rest of them which had only ended up making him want to punch Finn in the face again. Too bad he hadn't.

He had been sitting at the booth for about ten minutes when he saw Rachel walk in. He cursed under his breath. She looked good. Really good. She glanced around the restaurant before her eyes landed on him. Ducking her head slightly, she tucked her hair behind her ear as she made her way towards him. Jesse knew all too well that it was her tell that she was nervous.

"Hi," she greeted him as she sat down in the opposite side of the booth.

"Hi, Rachel," he returned as he watched her take her coat off. The tone in his voice softened as he said her name like it was his favorite word in the entire world. At times, it had been.

An awkward silence fell over them as they both wondered what to say next. "You cut your hair," Rachel remarked, at a loss as to how to begin the conversation.

Jesse reached up and touched the curls on top of his head. "Yeah, it's, uh, starting to grow out actually," he told her, remembering how he'd nearly buzzed it off in the middle of the hot and humid Ohio summer.

"I like it," she said, an unsure smile gracing her lips.

"Thanks," he replied with a small smile. Normally, he would have just dove right into a conversation but she had asked to meet him so he was content to let her steer things.

Looking down at her hands that were resting in her lap, she messed with her nails nervously as she contemplated what needed to be said next. "I'm sorry," she blurted out. He looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue. "For what happened in New York."

It was like those words opened up the flood gates and Jesse just let the words flow. "For which part exactly? Ignoring my texts? Letting Finn rub that stupid kiss in my face and not saying a word? Or maybe it's for the fact that even though I flew all the way to New York just to see you, you couldn't even be bothered to talk to me after the list went up?" He hated that there was so much bitterness laced in his words, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop it. "If you couldn't forgive me for the egging and the way I broke up with you then you should have just said so."

"I did," she responded quickly. "I do. That's not why…" she trailed off before she decided to try again. "I'm sorry for everything that happened in New York. It meant a lot to me that you came all the way there to surprise me. I just got caught up in everything and I…I'm sorry." She looked down at her hands once again.

He considered her apology for a moment. "Apology accepted," Jesse stated causing Rachel to raise her head to look at him in surprise. She wanted his forgiveness and he would never be able to deny her anything, so she had it. Besides, he had missed her. "So you're suspended, huh?" he asked, changing the subject and trying to keep the smile off of his face. Of all the people he had known in his life, Rachel Berry was the last one that he thought would ever do anything bad enough to get herself suspended from school.

Rachel nodded. "Until Monday," she confirmed.

Jesse was about to inquire further about Rachel's suspension when their waitress walked over to the table. "Hi, I'm Jillian. I'll be your server today. Can I get you guys something to drink?" the waitress asked, looking at both of them.

Gesturing to Rachel, Jesse waited for her to order. "I'll have a Coke and a water," she told the waitress.

The waitress looked expectantly at Jesse. "I'll have the same," he said. With a nod, she told them that she would be right back with their drinks and left them alone again. Picking up right where they had left off, Jesse asked, "What could you possibly have done that was so horrible that it got you suspended for an entire week?"

"I stuffed the ballot boxes for senior class president," she replied sheepishly.

"You were running for senior class president?"

Rachel shook her head in response. "No, I stuffed them for Kurt."

They were both apparently full of surprises today. "It was for Kurt?" He knew there were pieces to this puzzle that he was missing.

Deciding that perhaps she should fill Jesse in completely, Rachel decided to start at the beginning. "See, at the start of the school year, Kurt and I decided that if we wanted to get into a performing arts school then we needed to diversify ourselves. Being in New Directions is a great extra curricular activity, but we knew that we needed _more_."

Jesse nodded in understanding as he took a sip of the soda that the waitress had set on the table in front of him just moments earlier.

Rachel took a sip of her own soda before continuing with her story. "So I suggested that we put on a production of _West Side Story_. I, of course, was cast as Maria," she told him proudly. She decided to leave out the part where Artie, Miss Pillsbury and Coach Beiste had offered to split the role between Mercedes and herself. All that mattered was the fact that she was the one who had played Maria on that stage and that was all Jesse needed to know. "Kurt had hoped to be cast as Tony, but unfortunately the casting directors didn't feel he was the right fit."

Knowing that Kurt hadn't played opposite Rachel, Jesse was genuinely curious who had. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes that it was more than likely that uncoordinated, mediocre oaf that Rachel called her boyfriend. What Rachel saw in him, Jesse would never understand. He knew that one day, the girl sitting across the table from him would think the very same thing. "So who played Tony?" he asked.

"They ended up casting Blaine," she replied.

"As in Kurt's Warbler boyfriend, Blaine?" he wondered, confusion coloring his features.

"Blaine transferred to McKinley early this semester to be with Kurt," Rachel explained. She unsuccessfully tried not to think about when Jesse had done the same thing for her almost two years earlier. _Because when you love something, you got to go for it. You would never be with me completely if I were on the opposing team. And I care about you more than winning another national title. So I left Vocal Adrenaline. For you. _Rachel shook her head slightly to break herself out of her reverie.

"I'm sure you were the perfect Maria," Jesse said. Old habits die hard. Thinking Rachel was the most beautiful and talented girl he had ever known and letting her know that was one of those habits that he probably would never be able to break.

Rachel's cheeks reddened at Jesse's words. Realizing that they had gotten off track, she began to tell Jesse about the presidential campaign. "So Kurt decided that if he couldn't be in the musical then he was going to run for senior class president. Brittany was his campaign manager for a little while but then she decided to run against him." Ducking her head slightly, Rachel was ashamed to admit the next part. "I also decided to run against him. I knew that being senior class president on top of playing a lead role in our school musical would look great on my application."

"If you were running for president against Kurt, why would you stuff the ballot boxes for him? Were you trying to sabotage him?" Knowing from personal experience that Rachel would go to great lengths to get what she wanted even if it sometimes hurt the people she cared about.

"No!" Rachel exclaimed. "I actually pulled myself out of the race when we were all giving our speeches and threw all of my support behind Kurt. I was his campaign manager." Unable to hide her annoyance as she thought of Brittany and all of her stupid promises, she continued, "Brittany wasn't fighting fair so when Kurt told me how desperate he was to win and wished that someone would pull a 'JFK' and stuff the ballot boxes, I figured that I'd help him out."

"How did you get caught?"

"I may have miscounted the number of ballots that I stuffed into the box." She avoided Jesse's gaze as she remembered how she had just stuffed over a hundred slips checked for Kurt in the box.

"Exactly how many votes was the count over by?" A smirk starting to form on his lips as if he knew what her answer was going to be.

"140," she mumbled.

"140?" he exclaimed before laughing. "Do you even have 140 seniors in your class?"

"I said I miscounted," Rachel told him defensively.

"You should've just found a way to switch out the ballot boxes so Kurt would have won by a slim margin rather than a landslide," Jesse suggested as though he had done that very thing before, shrugging as he leaned back against the booth.

Rachel thought about how much better of an idea that was than her idea before internally admonishing herself. "I shouldn't have done it at all," she pointed out. "I almost got Kurt suspended because of it and then ended up getting suspended myself. And now I can't perform at Sectionals this weekend and it's going to be on my permanent record which probably means that I'll never get into NYADA now." Her voice had progressively gotten louder and more high-pitched as she had explained the ramifications of her actions, and people seated near them were staring at them causing Rachel's face to burn with embarrassment.

Jesse rested his forearms on the table as he leaned forward. "Wait, you're going to miss Sectionals?" he asked, picking up on the first thing she had said. He would get to the fact that she was looking to get into NYADA later. She nodded her head in response. "How in the hell does New Directions stand a chance at winning without you?" He could tell that Rachel was about to get defensive when it came to her teammates, but he continued before she could say anything. "Mercedes, Santana, Blaine, Kurt… they're all good but they're nowhere near as good as you."

It didn't escape Rachel's notice that he hadn't mentioned Finn in his list of good New Directions performers, but she decided to ignore it. "Mercedes and Santana are actually competing against us," she told him.

"Did they switch schools too?" Jesse asked, confused once again.

"Shelby is teaching at McKinley now and she's the coach of the Trouble Tones, the all-girl glee club that Mercedes, Santana and Brittany joined," she explained before taking a sip of her Coke once again.

The mention of Shelby's name caused Jesse to raise his eyebrows. "I thought Shelby was giving up coaching show choirs," Jesse remarked. He had always regretted that Rachel had ended up getting hurt as a result of him trying to unite mother and daughter. How she could have put both he and Rachel through all of that only to decide that she couldn't be a mother to a teenager still puzzled him.

Rachel shrugged her shoulders. "One of the student's dads somehow convinced her to come teach at McKinley and she started up another show choir." She didn't try to hide the fact that she was a little hurt that some stranger had been able to get her to come teach at McKinley but when Rachel had asked her almost a year earlier she had told her no.

Jesse's brow furrowed. "Are you okay?" he asked softly. His hand had moved almost imperceptibly before he thought better of reaching across the table and taking her hand in his.

Nodding her head, she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat at his obvious concern for her. She couldn't pretend that it didn't hurt that her birth mother had been at McKinley for months and seemed more concerned with forming a relationship with Beth's birth parents than her own flesh and blood daughter. If she was being honest with herself, when she had first learned that Shelby was teaching at McKinley she had naively thought that perhaps they would form some type of relationship.

Deciding that it was best to turn the conversation back to glee club, Jesse spoke again. "So without you, who's going to sing lead at Sectionals?" He felt relief wash over him as Rachel visibly brightened as she focused on New Directions again.

"They're doing three songs: 'ABC', 'Control' and 'Man in the Mirror' so they're all kind of singing leads."

"That's the smart thing to do. Focus on everyone's strengths rather than exposing any weaknesses. It's what Shelby would've done if I hadn't been able to perform when I was at Carmel. It's what I would do with Vocal Adrenaline now," he told her as he looked up to see the waitress approach their table once again to take their food order. "Do you know what you want?"

Nodding her head in response, Rachel smiled at the waitress as she stopped at their table once again. "What can I get you?" the older woman asked.

"I'll have the tossed green salad with balsamic vinaigrette on the side," she told the waitress before handing the woman her menu.

The woman turned her attention to Jesse. "I'll take the bratwurst and the German potato salad." He turned back to Rachel again as the waitress took the menu from him.

"What did you say about Vocal Adrenaline?" Rachel blurted out the moment the waitress walked away.

"It's what I would do," he answered.

"But why would you be doing anything with Vocal Adrenaline?" She feared she already knew the answer to her own question, but she wanted him to actually say it.

"I'm their new coach," he stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"How can you be their coach? You don't even have a college degree," she pointed out to him as if he didn't already know that.

"I didn't say I was _teaching_ at Carmel." He leaned back against the booth, resting his elbows on top of the seat with an extremely cocky expression on his face. "When Vocal Adrenaline failed to win Nationals last year, Dustin Goolsby was fired so they came to me. They wanted someone who had proven that they could win it all and I did it four years in a row."

It didn't happen often, but Rachel was speechless. Never in a million years would she have thought that Jesse would be the new coach of Vocal Adrenaline. "What about college?" she wondered.

"I had just gotten out of class when you called," he informed her.

Rachel breathed an inward sigh of relief that he was continuing his education. Jesse was too talented and smart to stay in Ohio and be a show choir director for the rest of his life. He belonged on the stage, just like she did.

"One of the boosters is a Tisch alum who has some influential friends at NYU. One friend in particular heads up the admissions office so if I can get my grades up this year, I'll be transferring there next year." He saw the wheels turning in Rachel's head as she thought about what he had said.

"So you're going to be in New York next year." It was meant to be a question but ended up coming out as more of a statement.

He nodded his head. "It appears that we both will be. I always thought that you wanted to go to Julliard or Tisch, but you've applied to NYADA?"

"It has the best musical theatre program in the country so it's the perfect fit." Rachel felt the excitement building within her as she talked about NYADA. "So many amazing actors have gone to school there. Plus the fact that they have a joint Bachelor's program with St. John's University which makes my dads happy."

Their conversation stopped for a moment while the waitress set their food down in front of them. "So when do you audition?" Jesse asked as he picked up his bratwurst to bite into it.

"My dad and I are going to New York in March for the audition."

"Do you know what your audition pieces are yet?"

"I was thinking of a monologue from _Spring Awakening _and maybe singing 'Not For the Life of Me' from – "

"_Thoroughly Modern Millie_," they both said at the same time which made them both laugh. Rachel loved her boyfriend, she did, but there were little moments like this one where she knew it in her bones that her and Jesse's story was far from over.

"I think they're both good choices," he told her, his voice breaking into her thoughts. "Although I have to say I'm surprised you're not thinking of something from _Funny Girl, Evita or Oklahoma!_"

The fact that he still remembered her three Broadway dream roles made her smile. She couldn't help but think that Finn would never remember something like that. She felt terrible for having such a thought about her boyfriend, but it was the truth. "I thought about it, but I figured I would try something different."

Jesse nodded in understanding as he took another bite of his bratwurst. So for the rest of their meal and a good hour after that they talked about all things Broadway and New York. When it came time to pay the bill, Jesse quickly snatched it so that Rachel couldn't pay for anything and gave the waitress his card before Rachel could put up any sort of argument.

As they got up to leave, Rachel realized that she didn't want the afternoon to end just yet. All she wanted to do was delay their parting for as long as possible. She told herself that it wasn't like she had anywhere to be, but really she liked being around Jesse again. It still amazed her how little time it took for them to feel comfortable around each other.

Once they were outside walking towards their cars, it was as if Jesse had read her mind as he turned to Rachel and asked, "You don't have to head back to Lima yet do you?"

"No."

"Good," he replied as he began making his way to his Range Rover with Rachel in-step beside him. "We'll come back for your car later." Rachel had no idea where Jesse wanted to go, but she was content to trust him. Once they pulled out of the parking lot of the restaurant, they hadn't gone very far before Jesse was turning onto a side road near the airport and coming to a stop as he pulled off on the edge of the road. Killing the engine, he selected a playlist on his iPhone then made sure that his iPhone was hooked up to his stereo before he reached for the door handle. He stopped to look at Rachel as he opened the door. "C'mon."

She followed his lead and got out of the SUV only to walk to the back of the vehicle where he had just opened the back door. "What are we doing?" she asked.

"Hanging out," he replied coyly as he sat down in the back of his SUV. Patting the spot next to him, he smiled at Rachel who was still just standing there looking at him curiously.

The song that had started out so softly moments before began its crescendo and the music wafted from the speakers inside the SUV. Deciding to not overthink too much, Rachel joined Jesse in the back of the SUV. "What are we listening to?"

Not answering her question directly, he said, "My playlist of possible songs for Regionals. Maybe you can give me your opinion and help me choose."

"I can't do that," she protested. "You're coaching our competition."

"Technically, the way they've aligned the Regional competition this year, you'll be our competition if you make it to Nationals," he remarked, fully confident that Vocal Adrenaline would be going all the way to Nationals once again. He'd like to think that Rachel would also be there but that was a little questionable at times with a glee club like New Directions and a coach like Mr. Schue.

"What do you mean 'if'?" she asked, offended by the suggestion that she and her teammates possibly wouldn't make it to Nationals.

Not wanting to get into an argument with her, he decided to not answer her question. "Just listen to the music and watch the planes," he replied as they saw a plane coming down the runway directly towards them.

Any biting words that she might've had for Jesse died on her lips as the plane lifted off the runway and flew directly over their heads. She had seen planes take off and land before, but not like this. Not this close. "Is this Florence + the Machine?" she asked, listening to the music once again.

"Yeah, it's from their new album," he replied.

"I like it. I could see Vocal Adrenaline performing this song," she told him as she imagined an elaborate number that only Vocal Adrenaline would be able to pull off. Well, the Vocal Adrenaline that Jesse had been the star of at least.

As they continued to listen to the song in comfortable silence, Jesse decided to lay down. He gazed at Rachel's rigid form, almost as if she was afraid to move. "I won't bite."

She turned her head to look at him. "What?" she asked, brow furrowed.

"I said I won't bite." Unable to resist, he added, "Unless you want me to, of course." A smile played at the corners of her mouth as she rolled her eyes before laying down next to him.

"So the next plane that takes off, we have to come up with a story for it," Rachel said, gazing up at the cloudless sky.

"Okay," Jesse agreed. Unlike Rachel, his eyes weren't fixed on the sky but instead were completely focused on the girl lying next to him.

As the next song began Rachel turned her head to look at Jesse, eyebrows raised. She knew he had eclectic taste in music but having a song from the _Breaking Dawn_ soundtrack as part of his Regionals selection was completely unexpected.

"I like this song," he told her defensively, referencing the Bruno Mars song currently playing.

"For Regionals?"

"I don't know how this ended up in this playlist, but no. This is not a Vocal Adrenaline song." Jesse turned his head to look at the sky as he heard jet engines getting louder. "What's their story?" he asked as he and Rachel watched the small passenger plane take off.

"A man is taking his girlfriend to New York," she dreamed up, imagining what she wished she was doing at that very moment.

"But why are they flying there?"

Rachel closed her eyes as she conjured up images of what she would be doing if she were older and her boyfriend was whisking her off to New York. "She's always wanted to see _Wicked_ and he's planning on proposing to her afterwards."

"But first, he's taking her to dinner at Per Se." Rachel looked at him questioningly, obviously not knowing the restaurant he was referring to. "It's a 5-star restaurant in New York. When my family went to New York last Christmas, my mother insisted that we go there for dinner."

Nodding her head, Rachel began to think of what the imaginary couple would do after dinner. "After _Wicked_ they're going to a nightclub where they're going to dance until their feet hurt because she wants their night in New York to last forever."

"Is he proposing to her there?" he asked, turning his head to look at her.

Rachel mirrored him, smiling dreamily as she conjured up something for the fictional couple having a fantasy date in New York. "They have a suite at the Waldorf-Astoria and when they walk into their room, it's full of tiger lilies. Her favorite. The only light is from all of the candles scattered around the room."

As Jesse listened to her and watched the way her face lit up as she seemed to picture the imaginary proposal in her head, he had to fight the urge to lean over and kiss her.

"And, of course, she says yes," Rachel finished.

"Of course," Jesse repeated, nodding his head before turning his gaze towards the blue sky once again.

Once again, the only sound that filled the car was the music from Jesse's playlist. An internal debate waged inside Rachel's head about what she was dying to talk to Jesse about. It was part of the reason she had wanted to meet with him in the first place. "I'm afraid that I'm not going to get into NYADA," she confessed.

"Rachel, I'm sure the suspension – " he started before she cut him off.

"It's not that. Well, not entirely. I know that I'm a great performer. Clearly the best in New Directions, but what if that's only good enough for Ohio?" She had never felt more vulnerable than she did in that very moment.

"Rachel…" he began.

"I've always thought that I would be able to get into any performing arts school, but I went to this meeting where kids that are hoping to go to NYADA meet and they all have these extensive résumés and… I've won a Tiny Tots beauty pageant and Sectionals and Regionals with New Directions and I've had the lead role in one high school production." Tears pricked the corners of her eyes as she thought of all of the things that she had worked so hard for and dreamed of not coming to fruition.

Jesse could feel the warmth of her hand near his on the cargo floor and without really thinking about it, he reached over and took her hand in his. He did his best to ignore the jolt of electricity that shot through his body just from a simple touch. "I have seen a lot of talented people over the years. But you are special, Rachel Berry. When you audition, it's not going to matter what's on your application or what's in your transcripts because the moment you sing your first note for them, they're going to want you at that school."

This was what she had needed. His unwavering faith in her talent. His reassurance that she was as good as she had always thought she was. She squeezed his hand in silent thanks.

After that, the mood lightened as they debated the merits of each song that they listened to and still occasionally made up stories about the planes taking off. It was the perfect afternoon. Jesse's Regionals selection ran the gamut from rock to Broadway show tunes to R&B. Rachel was thankful that New Directions wouldn't be going up against Vocal Adrenaline at Regionals.

"We should probably head back," Jesse reluctantly suggested as he sat up, thinking that he was probably going to be cutting it close getting back to Akron for Vocal Adrenaline's rehearsals.

"Yeah, I should get home before my dads so I don't get into even more trouble," Rachel agreed, sitting up as well. She reached out for Jesse's proffered hand as he stood outside of his SUV then jumped down to the ground. "Thanks."

Jesse just smiled at her before quickly dropping her hand and walking around to the passenger side of his SUV. Opening the door for her, he waited for her to climb in before shutting it behind her. After he had gotten in and started the engine, he reached for his radio to find a particular song that he had been wanting to play for her all afternoon. "There's a song that I want you to hear," he explained as he found what he was looking for and turned the volume up.

A drum beat filled the inside of the car as Jesse put the SUV in drive and began to head back to the restaurant to get Rachel's car. As she listened to the male lead singer, she didn't know what to think of the song. But the moment the chorus kicked in – _Tonight, we are young/So let's set the world on fire, we can burn brighter than the sun – _she fell in love with it. Jesse looked over and caught her eye and she grinned at him in approval as she began to rock in her seat just a bit with the beat of the song. She thought about New Directions singing this song and how great it would sound. Looking at his stereo she saw that the song was 'We Are Young' by Fun.

Once the song was over, Rachel reached over and turned the radio down. "I love that song. Can we listen to it again?"

Jesse chuckled before hitting the back button and turning the volume up again. He glanced over and smiled at Rachel as she sang along with part of the chorus. Before the song was finished they had pulled into the restaurant parking lot, so after Jesse had parked next to Rachel's car they just sat there for a moment so she could listen to the entire song. Jesse reached for the dial this time to turn the volume down when the song ended.

Digging through her purse, Rachel pulled out her car keys as Jesse hopped out of the car and came around to her side just as she opened the passenger door. Jumping down, she shut the door behind her and looked up at Jesse, a warm smile on her lips. "Thank you for today," she said.

"You're welcome," he replied, returning her smile. There was a momentary pause where it seemed as though Rachel was deciding how she wanted to say good-bye to him, then suddenly she was standing on her tiptoes and wrapping her arms around his neck. Slowly, Jesse's arms circled tightly around her waist and his eyes closed as he breathed her in. He silently wondered if there would ever come a day when he didn't love Rachel Berry. He doubted it.

Rachel had her eyes tightly closed as she held onto Jesse, unwilling to let him go just yet. So they just continued to stand their wrapped in the warmth of each other's embrace.

Unsure of how much time had actually ticked by, Rachel reluctantly loosened her hold on Jesse. Instead of pulling away completely, she turned her head and placed a lingering kiss on his cheek causing her stomach to unexpectedly flutter at the contact. Finally, she released him fully and smiled up at him. "Good luck at Sectionals," she told him.

"I hope the rest of New Directions can pull it off for you." Unlike earlier, when she would have bristled at a comment like that about her teammates, she just shrugged it off. He stepped back as she opened her door to get into her car.

Shutting the door behind her, she rolled her window down as soon as she started her car up. "Be careful driving home. I'll see you around."

She was about to put her car in reverse when he leaned down into her window slightly to tell her one last thing, "About your suspension. Maybe the admissions office will look at it and like that it's part of your artistic rebellious attitude."

"My artistic rebellious attitude," Rachel repeated as though she were pondering the idea before she grinned at him. "Thanks, Jesse."

"Any time," he told her and he meant it. Of course he would love to be her boyfriend, but he would take friendship if that was all she had to give at the moment. "Don't be a stranger." Straightening, he patted her window sill once before he walked around to the driver side of his own car and got in.

Rachel looked back one last time as she drove away. She was so happy that she'd had this day with Jesse. He had given her hope that maybe all wasn't lost and that her dreams were still very much alive.


End file.
